The drenching rains and howling winds were gone but flooding concerns persisted Wednesday, as anxious residents waited for waters to recede so they could see what was left after this week's fierce storm.

Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his Republican challenger, Ron Saxton, barnstormed in key areas of the state Monday, in parallel last-ditch efforts to exhort their supporters to drop off their ballots before Tuesday's 8 p.m. deadline.

A devastating ocean dead zone off Oregon that killed fish, crabs and sea worms in an area bigger than Rhode Island last summer lasted nearly three times longer than any of its predecessors, before dissipating with autumn's change in the weather, scientists said Monday.

The oxygen-starved "dead zone" along the Pacific Coast that is causing massive deaths of crab and fish is worse than initially thought, scientists said. Weather, not pollution, appears to be the culprit, scientists said, and no relief is in sight.